SIDESMEN

In ecclesiastical law. These were originally persons whom, in the ancient episcopal synods, the bishops were wont to summon out of each parish to give information of the disorders of the clergy and people, and to report heretics. In process of time they became standing officers, under the title of “synodsmen,” “sidesmen,” or “questmen.” The whole of their duties seems now to have devolved by custom upon the church wardens of a parish. 1 Burn, Ecc. Law, 399.